June Rebellion

The June Rebellion of 1832 was a failed revolution against the Kingdom of France by republican revolutionaries and the "Friends of the ABC" club in Paris. Famous for the fighting on the barricades, the rebellion was crushed after only a few days by the government's use of grapeshot.

Background
The French king Charles X came to power after the death of Louis XVIII, and tried to change the world too fast. Tired of having an absolute monarch that was no better than Emperor Napoleon, the French people revolted against their ruler in Paris in 1830 in the July Revolution. The people of France constructed barricades and armed themselves, and they fought with the government soldiers for days until the palace was stormed and Charles exiled. Louis-Philippe I was elected as the new king of a constitutional monarchy that was supposed to give the people more independence, ending years of House of Bourbon rule by replacing them with the House of Orleans. However, he was again no better then the last king. Ever since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the people starved and had barely enough money to buy bread, and the onset of wnter was always ready to kill. Fortunately, General Jean Maximilien Lamarque (a representative of the Third Estate people of France) managed to maintain the peace in France under the July Monarchy for many years, fighting for the peasants' rights in politics. The people loved Lamarque, but the signs of change had not yet appeared. In 1832 a cholera outbreak left Lamarque and several other French people dead, and his death was the sign that the people of France awaited.

Many revolutionary groups such as the "Friends of the ABC" club of college students and other republican gatherings prepared to fight for the independence of the people from the House of Orleans. During the funeral of General Lamarque, the revolutionary leader Enjolras, a bourgeoisie college student of wealthy upbringing, jumped on top of the funeral carriage and waved the French flag, and the people began to sing for freedom. The observers of the funeral, fired up to fight for what Lamarque believed in, all gathered and followed the carriage. French National Guard soldiers were called to their posts and when the guards confronted the crowd, a French sniper shot an old woman. The revolutionaries then charged in and attacked the guardsmen, and the French Chasseurs were sent in to quell the people. Chasseur cavalrymen drew their sabers and slashed at many of the rioters, dispersing the crowd, but the people continued to protest. Stealing furniture and other wooden objects (even overturned carriages), the people formed barricades on the streets, making a giant motley assortment of objects to create a wall. Impaled with French flags, these barricades became signs of defiance to the kingdom of France, and a symbol of the people's rebellion.

The people of Nortre Dame, Rue de Bac, and Port Saint-Cloud readied for the construction of their barricades, while Enjolras and the others on the Saint-Denis neighborhood street prepared for battle. They gathered pistols and muskets, and also took cartridges. The ultimate goal of building barricades was to hold off French Army attacks until the army had no men left to fight, and they would then storm the Palace of Versailles.

General Georges Mouton was dispatched to crush this revolution, and he sent a spy named Inspector Javert to infiltrate the revolutionaries and mislead them. The plot was quickly found out by a twelve year-old boy named Gavroche, who knew the inspector beforehand during his many days of leading a band of thieving young tramps. Javert was tied up in the tavern where the Friends of the ABC made their base, but his execution was delayed when the rebels heard marching feet.

The First Attack
A platoon of sappers advanced towards the barricade, with troops behind them, 50 men or more. The revolutionaries took to their posts with their muskets loaded, and took cover. When the captain of the National Guard told them that they had no chance at all and that they had to give up their guns or die, the revolutionaries told them to damn their warnings and that they would see the people rise. Readying for battle, the National Guardsmen arranged themselves in a line and began to fire. The revolutionaries possessed cover in the pieces of the barricade and were able to fire back, and Enjolras' life was saved by an old volunteer named Jean Valjean (who was wearing a National Guard uniform so that he could be let through to the barricade), who shot at a sniper about to kill Enjolras. In this attack the National Guardsmen almost overran the barricade, but a young revolutionary named Marius Pontmercy threatened to blow up a powder keg with a torch if the National Guardsmen did not fall back, and the Captain reluctantly ordered his men to retreat. The rebels grieved for their dead and cared for their wounded, and among the dead was Bishop Mabeuf, who was shot in the heart while waving the Flag of France on the top of the barricade. As a reward for saving his life, Enjolras handed Javert over to Jean Valjean, who asked him to hand him over so that he could take care of him; Javert had chased Valjean, an escaped convict, across the years starting in 1815. Valjean cut him loose because he knew that Javert was doing his duty, and nothing more, and Javert fled.

Intermission
After the attack, the French National Guard withdrew from the barricade and fell back to an area not far from the warzone, virtually besieging the barricade. They entrenched themselves, awaiting a new chance to strike. But for the night of June 5th, they licked their wounds and got some rest. Meanwhile, t he French revolutionaries remained at their posts, and as night fell on the barricades, they reminisced about their lives and drank to their comradeship and friendship.

The next morning was a dawn of anguish. Enjolras' friend Grantaire told him that all of the other barricades fell overnight, and the revolutionaries noticed that the people of Paris had not stirred. Knowing that they would probably all die, the revolutionaries swore to fight, but they noticed that they had no ammunition. However, Gavroche volunteered to pickpocket the dead National Guardsmen on the other side of the barricade, and although Enjolras tried to pull him down, he agreed to go on with his suicidal task. He gathered many cartridges, but he was shot twice by National Guardsmen troops. Courfeyrac grabbed the dead body of Gavroche and carried him back to the rebel side of the barricade, where he mourned his murder.

=== Second Attack ===

After the death of Gavroche, the National Guard captain warned them that the people of Paris slept in their beds and asked them why they should throw their lives away. The revolutionaries resolved to die facing their foes, making them pay through the nose and for every man. Enjolras famously told his men, "let others rise to take our place until the earth is free!", and the Captain of the National Guard ordered his men to push up the cannons. The revolutionaries fired their muskets, picking off several artillery soldiers manning the guns, but after two volleys, the French fired back. Their cannon fired canister shot, destroying parts of the barricade and mowing down the rebels. After a few rounds, the National Guardsmen fixed bayonets and assaulted the barricade. A small group fled into the nearby tavern, while the rest were killed by the Guardsmen. Some even tried to enter people's homes, banging on the doors, but the cowardly Parisian civilians shut the doors and windows and abandoned their fighters. The guardsmen stormed the tavern after killing the other rebels and fired through the roof (the floor of the second floor) and killed three of the rebels, and Enjolras and Grantaire fled to the edge of the second floor next to the window. Cornered, Enjolras held up the red Republican flag in his hand and when he was shot with Grantaire, his legs were caught onto the window and his body hung upside down with the flag still in his hands, an iconic emblem of his death for the people.

Jean Valjean carried the wounded Marius Pontmercy into the sewer, escaping the National Guard, who had killed all of the others who fought alongside them. In total, 800 rebels died across Paris in the storming of the barricades on June 7.

Aftermath
The women of Paris came to the blood-soaked streets to mourn the students of the barricade who didn't last the night. They lamented how nothing changed, nothing ever will, and every day there was another brat and another mouth to fill. Inspector Javert, who was saddened by the sight of a dead Gavroche, pinned one of his medals to his shirt.

If the June Rebellion signified anything, it was that the people of France would fight to the death in an attempt to gain their independence from oppression and to gain a better life. Enjolras' hope that others would rise and take his place until the Earth was free was fulfilled sixteen years later, with the February Revolution of 1848 overthrowing the government of France and establishing a short-lived French Republic that was later overthrown in 1851 by Louis Napoleon.